UK bank Alliance & Leicester (A&L) is investing £10 million in Web-based marketing and advertising in 2004 in a bid to increase online sales.
The investment comes as the UK bank moves to redefine itself as a "direct bank with a high street presence", amid growing evidence that customers are becoming even more confident in using technology to process financial transactions.
Stephen Leonard, director, brand marketing and e-commerce, says: "Customers are increasingly choosing to bank via the Internet, we've seen our e-commerce sales increase threefold in 2003, and we aim to enable this growth to continue."
To this end, A&L has appointed media buying agency Mediavest Manchester to manage its online advertising campaigns, and Internet advertising consultancy Corporem Global to co-ordinate search engine marketing.
The bank is also expanding its e-commerce team with a number of new roles including the creation of two new senior positions to head the sales and servicing strategies online.
Says leonard: "The Internet has really levelled the playing field in the retail financial services market. Customer acquisition used to be determined by the size of your branch network. However, changing customer behaviour is now increasingly driving self service and low cost direct distribution models - this is where Alliance & Leicester has real competence and competitive advantage."